Final CSN Top 20 IHSA football rankings

Final CSN Top 20 IHSA football rankings

1 Glenbard West (14-0)
Last Week (Ranked 2): Defeated Lincoln-Way East 10-8
PrepsTalk: West was simply devastating on defense. They recorded five sacks and recovered a fumble. DB Hayden Carlson recorded 14 tackles, including a jarring hit on QB Tom Fuessell late in the game.

2 Mount Carmel (13-1)
Last Week (Ranked 3): Defeated Glenbard North 28-14
PrepsTalk: Don Butkus scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one passing) and Draco Smith added a 78-yard run to paydirt to give the Caravan their first state championship since 2002.

3 Lincoln-Way East (13-1)
Last Week (Ranked 1): Lost to Glenbard West 10-8
PrepsTalk: It was a rough end to a fine season for the Griffins. Quarterback Tom Fuessel (21 carries, 17 yards rushing; 3-14, 51 yards passing) couldnt get anything going against the stout GBW defense.

4 Crete-Monee (14-0)
Last Week (Ranked 4): Defeated Cary-Grove 33-26
PrepsTalk: Laquon Treadwell did a little bit of everything to clinch C-Ms first state title. He scored two touchdowns, made 12 tackles and secured a key interception in the third quarter.

5 Glenbard North (12-2)
Last Week (Ranked 5): Lost to Mount Carmel 28-14
PrepsTalk: Justin Jacksons 76-yard interceptionTD for the games opening score was clutch, but it was all Caravan from there. Jackson was held to 63 yards rushing. Brian Murphy had a touchdown pass.

6 Cary-Grove (13-1)
Last Week (Ranked 6): Lost to Crete-Monee 33-26
PrepsTalk: Quinn Baker had two scores (one passing, one receiving) and Kyle Norberg had another touchdown with 117 yards rushing, but it was too much Laquon Treadwell for the Trojans to match.

7 Loyola (11-2)
Last Week (Ranked 7): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: The Chicago Catholic Blue conference recorded a final overall record of 45-18. Every team in conference finished with a record of .500 or better.

8 Neuqua Valley (12-1)
Last Week (Ranked 8): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: It will be tough to match senior running back Joey Rhattigans numbers next year, but running back TJ Scruggs and quarterback Davide Tomei may get their chance in 2013.

9 Maine South (11-1)
Last Week (Ranked 9): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: The Hawks will take a 60-game conference winning streak into play next season. The last time they lost a conference game was in October 2000 against New Trier.

10 Montini (12-2)
Last Week (Ranked 10): Defeated Morris 19-6
PrepsTalk: Dmitri Taylor scored on a 74-yard run and on a 48-yard reception, part of 227 total yards on the day, as the Broncos won their fourth consecutive 5A state championship.

11 Morris (12-2)
Last Week (Ranked 11): Lost to Montini 19-6
PrepsTalk: Quarterback Zach Cinnamon scored a late touchdown, but the Redskins could not establish any offense for the bulk of the game. Running back Reese Sobol tallied 81 yards.

12 Waubonsie Valley (10-2)
Last Week (Ranked 12): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: Austin Guido was virtually unstoppable this year at running back. DeMario Webb and Jon Fizer are two players who could receive some looks in the backfield next season.

13 Lemont (11-2)
Last Week (Ranked 13): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: Its going to be really tough to replace two of the top linemen in the area 6-foot-7, 290-pound Ethan Pocic (headed to LSU) and 6-2, 270-pound Tim McAullife (Bowling Green).

14 Benet (11-2)
Last Week (Ranked 14): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: After contributing as an offensive lineman this season, 6-9 junior Sean OMara will head to the basketball court. He is regarded as one of the top centers in the area.

15 Wheaton North (10-2)
Last Week (Ranked 15): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: Junior quarterbackreceiver Clayton Thorson broke his collarbone in a playoff game this season, but look for him to make big contributions in 2013.

16 Lake Zurich (10-3)
Last Week (Ranked 16): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: It was a successful opening campaign for new head coach David Proffitt. The Bears have eclipsed the 10-win mark in five of the last seven seasons.

17 Palatine (10-2)
Last Week (Ranked 17): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: Senior quarterback Ethan Olles guided the Pirates to a strong showing in the playoffs this year. But keep an eye on 2016 graduate James Pittman. Is he Palatines QB of the future?

18 Marian Central Catholic (11-1)
Last Week (Ranked 18): Did Not Play
PrepsTalk: First goal of the offseason? Find a way to consistently beat Montini in the regular season and during the playoffs (if need be). Second and third goals: see first goal.

20 Simeon (11-2)
Last Week (Ranked 20): Defeated Brother Rice 14-12
PrepsTalk: Huge win for the Wolverines (first Prep Bowl trophy in seven attempts) and for the Public League in general (broke the Catholic Leagues six-game winning streak in the annual game).

Options if the Bulls trade down: Gonzaga forward Rui Hachimura

Options if the Bulls trade down: Gonzaga forward Rui Hachimura

On draft night, there is a decent possibility that the Bulls front office looks at their draft board and collectively decide that they can get a player with No. 7 pick value later in the first round. They could be inclined to feel this way more than in most years due to the 2019 draft class being such a toss up after the top three picks. If the Bulls traded down in the draft, I am assuming they would be netting a valuable future first-round pick, likely with some minimal protections. In this series, we will be looking at prospects the Bulls could take should they trade down in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Boylen talked a ton this season about “toughness” being a key tenet of the new Bulls culture moving forward. The idea of that “toughness” didn’t translate on the court heavily, though the Bulls did improve slightly in rebound rate under Boylen.

From the time for Boylen took over, the Bulls ranked 14th in defensive rebound rate and 25th in total rebound rate, up from 16th and 28th respectively under Hoiberg. Those numbers are a bit of smoke-and-mirrors with all the factors at play this past (weird) Bulls season.

But Boylen did have a much heavier focus on generating points inside first, with the team ranking third in the league in points in the paint per game during his tenure. Rui Hachimura fits in extremely well with the idea of the Bulls punishing teams inside with low-post scoring depth, resulting in open looks on the perimeter.

Hachimura stands 6-feet-8-inches tall, 230 lbs., with a 7-foot-2-inch wingspan. He is a very physical player and utilizes his wingspan incredibly well in traffic. Hachimura posted a 17.4 percent defensive rebound rate over his three-years at Gonzaga. I mentioned above how Hachimura embraces contact and his career average of 7.5 free throw attempts per 40 minutes helps showcase his ability to be a wrecking ball in the paint.

He has the potential to excel as a small-ball center with the right personnel surrounding him. The fact that he can grab a defensive board and initiate the fastbreak makes him an even more valuable prospect. But when you consider that lineups with he and Markkanen as the two bigs on the floor would have five capable ball-handlers, the idea of Rui in Chicago becomes even more enticing.

Overall, Hachimura is a great prospect with a solid skill set that should allow him to be a decent scorer from day one, it all just depends on how much of an opportunity he gets.

The Bulls--as John Paxson has reiterated many, many times now--feel comfortable with the starters they have at the two, three, four and five positions, with point guard being their main area of weakness. While the Bulls don’t necessarily need another big, they do need to add productive players who are young. With Boylen’s emphasis on having multiple ball-handlers, driving the ball and points in the paint, Hachimura would be a logical selection, though No. 7 overall could be a bit of a reach for the 21-year old big.

His defense definitely has a long way to go--as with most NBA draft prospects--but Hachimura’s situation is unique since he literally had a language barrier to overcome when he first got to Gonzaga in 2017. The belief right now is that Hachimura is in a comfortable spot right now in terms of both speaking and understanding English, as reporting from Sam Vecine of the The Athletic (LINK is behind a paywall) and others has backed up.

With that being said, the Japanese forward still makes too many mistakes on the defensive end of the floor to be a surefire top 10 pick.

He is at his core an offensive-minded player, and as a result has not exactly developed much in the way of defensive intensity over the years. Hachimura averaged 0.6 steals per game and 0.5 blocks per game for his NCAA career.

For comparison’s sake, his steal and block rates are almost identical to Marvin Bagley III during his time at Duke. Bagley had a highly productive rookie season with the Kings--landing a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First-Team--but the Kings defense was still four points worse when he was on the floor per cleaningtheglass.com ($).

Despite having similar measurements to Bagley, I don’t believe that Hachimura posses quite the level of athleticism that Bagley does, making his path to becoming an above average defender that much harder.

Ultimately, if Hachimura’s awesome shooting numbers from NBA 3-point range (41.7 percent) on a small sample size (36 attempts) aren’t smoke-and-mirrors, he will greatly outplay his draft position. Hachimura shot 52.1 percent on his NBA range 3-pointers and also has a career 74.6 percent free throw percentage. Whether he was diving to the rim on pick-and-rolls with Lauri spacing the floor, or playing in a high/low offense with another big on the bench unit, there is a clear path to Hachimura being effective in Chicago. It would just take a ton of patience from the Bulls new-look coaching staff.

Latest White Sox Talk

When the White Sox drafted Nick Madrigal with the fourth overall pick in last June’s draft he was known as an elite contact hitter who could play good defense on the infield.

In nearly a year in the minors, that has mostly held true, but not exactly according to plan. Madrigal raced through three levels of the minors in 2018 and hit .303 in 43 games between those three stops. He only had five strikeouts.

This season has not gone as smoothly. Madrigal is hitting .261 for Single-A Winston-Salem, but he still isn’t striking out much at all. In fact, according to a write-up on Milb.com, Madrigal leads of all minor league baseball with a 3.3 percent strikeout rate.

“Madrigal has plus speed, and that should lead to more hits as his sample increases, but he'll have to hit a lot more to provide value from his specific profile,” Sam Dykstra wrote.

So what’s with Madrigal not hitting for higher average? How can a batter strikeout so rarely and not find more hits?

White Sox director of amateur scouting Nick Hostetler, one of the key decision makers in drafting Madrigal, talked about Madrigal’s progress on an episode of the White Sox Talk podcast earlier this week.

“The one thing he’s still doing is making contact,” Hostetler said. “So that is what we expected. We expected that out of him. I’m not sure he was probably expecting the streaks. I think he’s dealt with a lot of streaks in his offensive game this year. I think he had one stretch that was 0-for-16 or 17 and he came back with a couple hits. So he’s been a little streaky this year. But I think he’s starting to learn. He’s starting to develop. He’s had one home run. He’s starting to hit some doubles, but he’s starting to learn to get the ball in the air a little bit. He’s learning how teams are shifting him, how they’re playing him.”

The shifts Hostetler referred to are another interesting part of Madrigal’s unusual profile. He is actually going to opposite field more than pulling the ball down left field and opposing defenses are playing him accordingly. That could be one reason to explain why Madrigal isn’t getting more hits out of all the balls he is putting in play.

He is showing a bit more power this year as opposed to last year (11 extra base hits vs. 7 in only 10 more plate appearances). His spray charts for 2018 and 2019 show he is pulling the ball more than he used to, a sign that he is adjusting.

Note that Madrigal has more balls resulting in hits getting pulled down the left field side than he had last year. As defenses are shifting him to hit the ball to opposite field, as Hostetler noted, this will be a key part of his development.

He is showing progress in other areas. He is drawing more walks (14 this season vs. 7 last year) and is showing off his speed with 12 stolen bases.

Hostetler isn’t pushing the panic button on Madrigal.

“This is part of development,” Hostetler said. “Unfortunately the new wave we’re in everybody thinks ‘well, they’re a college guy and he’s drafted so high he needs to hit like this and go right away and be there in a year.’ Some guys just take a little bit.

“The one thing I’ll say is the defense has been exactly what we thought it would be. It’s Gold Glove caliber defense and he’s making contact. As long as he keeps making contact, keep fielding those balls like he is, he’ll figure out the rest.”

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